


SorMik Day 1: Water

by ParzivalHallows



Series: SorMik Week 2016 [1]
Category: Tales of Zestiria
Genre: Archaelogist-in-the-making!Sorey, Day 1, Especially Sorey, M/M, Mikleo is a mermaid, Sormik week, They're both still nerds tho, Water, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-08
Updated: 2016-08-08
Packaged: 2018-08-07 12:03:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7714210
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ParzivalHallows/pseuds/ParzivalHallows
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I ACTUALLY FINISHED A ONE-SHOT FOR ONCE. ON TIME. WHAT IS THIS. </p>
<p>Anyway enjoy this Sorey/Mikleo one-shot for SorMik Week! I suck at summaries but all you need to know is Sorey finds a ruin, not surprising, and stumbles across a merman Mikleo. Sorey may or may not have had a heart attack when he first realized merpeople are real and Mikleo is very concerned over the fact that there's a "merman" with legs instead of a tail.</p>
            </blockquote>





	SorMik Day 1: Water

_“I expect you to be back here by nightfall!”_

Pale, vivid green eyes stared up at the dark blue sky. Sorey figured he probably had about two hours before he’d have to be home to appease his mother. Honestly, he was lucky that she even allowed him to go off exploring the ruins on his own, especially after his dad died.

 

Then again, that might have been the whole reason she let him go exploring himself anyway. Sorey’s dad was an archaeologist, and always told Sorey about his findings. He’d even taken Sorey on a few trips, and gave Sorey a book filled with mystical tales about ancient ruins. Sorey had vowed to follow in his father’s footsteps as an archaeologist, and after his father’s death, he continued exploring the ruins.

 

“You’d love this one dad,” he whispered as he stepped in front of the large ruin. It appeared to be just normal stone, but if one looked closely they could see the outline of an intricate door. Wanting to touch it and see how deep it was, Sorey placed a hand over the middle of it. Almost immediately, the previously dull outline glowed bright blue. Sorey’s eyes widened as he stared at the beautifully shaped door that was now completely visible to anyone who looked. Three stars appeared above his hand, thorns decorated the sides of the door, and there was an odd shape right in the middle. Almost like a bow. Mystified, Sorey stroked along the bow-shape, and jumped back in surprise as the door suddenly pulled back and sunk into the ground, allowing Sorey access.

 

The brunet’s heart was beating harshly in his chest, although it was mostly out of excitement rather than fear. He immediately pulled out the book his father had given him, flicking through the pages until he came upon a roughly sketched out picture. Alu Oaris. The ruins that supposedly were once home to merpeople.

 

He skimmed through the page, even though he’d already read it many times, he didn’t want to miss a single thing. Unfortunately some of the words had worn down from the centuries the book had been made, but Sorey could make out enough of it to count.

 

_Alu Oaris’s location has been lost in time… water folk… only the worthy are allowed entry…_

“Only the worthy,” Sorey mumbled to himself. He glanced back up at the hole where the door had been before. A sudden feeling of honor ran through his body, and a soft smile took over his face. The merpeople, or whoever had designed this ruin, thought of him as worthy enough to be allowed to discover its secrets. He stepped inside, looking around and making sure not to miss a single sight.

 

It appeared to be a cave, although rather than rocks it seemed to be carved out of crystals. They glowed an unnatural blue from the water that flowed on the ground next to him. It appeared to be sculpted so that there was a pathway for Sorey to walk through and appreciate the sights, which meant that once upon a time there had been civilization here – whether they were manmade or sung to life from merpeople, Sorey was desperate to find out.

 

If the crystals hadn’t been giving off their eerie light, Sorey would have had no idea where he was going, but luckily his path was illuminated and he studied the carvings in the walls. This place was completely untouched, and time itself hadn’t ravaged the ruins even a little bit. Everything was pristine and perfect, it was the first ruin he’d been in that he hadn’t seen any signs of crumbling. It looked well maintained, and Sorey wondered to himself if there was actual civilization down here. If so, he had yet to see anyone. Still, he couldn’t see how something so old would be this immaculate. He stumbled upon a tablet on the wall that had text on it, but it was a language that he was unable to make out, which was odd since Sorey had studied all of the ancient languages until he was fluent in them.

 

He heard a splash behind him and turned to look, expecting to see a fish or something, but what he saw instead took him aback so much that he actually screamed aloud and fell down. The person that was in the water looked just as surprised and scared, but at least he hadn’t had such an embarrassing reaction as Sorey did. Sorey studied the male in front of him. His skin was so pale it was almost glowing, and he had snowy locks. Sorey wasn’t sure if there was aqua tinting the ends of his hair, or if that was just a reflection of the water, but even more than his strange hair, what really stuck out to Sorey was his amethyst-colored eyes.

 

Sorey got up, his heart pounding, but stepped a bit closer to the edge. The male watched him warily, as though worried that Sorey was going to hurt him, but didn’t move.

 

“H-Hey, sorry I didn’t mean to scare you-“ he cut off, for he’d just now caught sight of the tail connected to the male’s body. His mouth dropped open as he stared openly. The merman seemed a bit self-conscious as he tucked his beautiful white tail with aqua fins (much like his hair) underneath of him and out of sight. In turn, the merman was studying his legs with equal fascination.

 

“You’re a merperson,” Sorey got out, and the merman looked at him in confusion. “What else would I be?” he asked, his voice slightly deeper then Sorey had been expecting.

 

“Well…. Human,” said Sorey cautiously, and the merman tilted his head at him. “Human?”

 

He was obviously confused, which meant he’d never seen or heard of a human before. “Yeah, I’m a human. See, I’ve got legs instead of a tail,” said Sorey, now feeling a bit more comfortable. He sat down on the edge, causing the merman to flinch back. “I’m not going to hurt you,” said Sorey. The merman looked back up at him, and seemed to sense his genuineness. He hovered a hand over Sorey’s legs, and after a permissive nod from Sorey, began to touch the human’s legs.

 

He seemed fascinated, and Sorey couldn’t blame him. He was still taken aback at the thought of a male around his age having a tail rather than legs. He’d… hoped that merpeople were real, but now that one was touching his legs in a surprised daze, it almost seemed unreal. Like he was dreaming.

 

The merman had moved his hands from his legs to touch his clothes. “Is this a part of you?” he asked, and Sorey realized he probably had no idea what clothes were, seeing as the other was wearing nothing to cover his chest.

 

“No no,” said Sorey, as he took off his shirt. The merman’s eyes widened in surprise, but he appeared a bit more excited then nervous now. “These are what we call clothes, we wear them over our bodies to… well, protect our modesty, and they’re also good for when its cold out. Here,” Sorey held out the shirt to the merman, who snatched it from his hands and studied the blue fabric. After a moment he smiled up at Sorey and handed it back. “Mikleo.”

 

“What?” Sorey asked in confusion.

 

“My name,” the merman said, “It’s Mikleo.”

 

“Oh,” it was then the brunet realized he had forgotten to introduce himself. “My name is Sorey. It’s nice to meet you Mikleo,” he held out a hand, and Mikleo gave him a confused look. “Oh it’s… uh, a handshake, it’s what we do when we first meet someone,” he said, slightly embarrassed.

 

Mikleo held his own hand up, but changed it into a fist before giving Sorey an expectant look. Sorey clenched his own fist, hoping that’s what Mikleo had wanted. Mikleo smiled and then crossed his wrist against Sorey’s.

 

It took Sorey a moment to catch on. “Oh, is that your greeting?” he asked, and Mikleo looked down, a pink tinge on his cheeks showing that he was embarrassed. “W-Well… it’s… kind of…” he stuttered out, before looking in the opposite direction, still appearing to be flustered. “… Not everyone does it…”

 

Sorey couldn’t help but to chuckle. Mikleo looked… kind of adorable when he was trying to cover his embarrassment. Mikleo didn’t seem to share his sentiment, for he shot a small glare at Sorey upon hearing the laugh.

 

“Sorry,” the brunet apologized, not wanting to upset the merman. Mikleo glared at him for a few seconds more before his gaze softened. “… It’s not like I was offended or anything,” he said with a scoff, and Sorey had to fight the urge to laugh again.

 

“Well,” Sorey said brightly, and Mikleo gave him a surprised look. “We should probably learn more about each other, you’re probably as curious about me as I am of you,” he said with a smile. Mikleo studied Sorey’s legs before nodding softly. “I am…” he said in barely more than a murmur.

 

“Great! I’ll start off then,” said Sorey, putting his shirt back on since it was pretty chilly in the ruins. He had no idea how Mikleo (and he assumed the other merpeople) put up with it. Perhaps it had something to do with their skin? He’d ask Mikleo. “I’m human, and I live in a village with other humans. I want to be an archaeologist when I grow up – that’s a person that explores places like this, ruins, structures, writing… it’s great. I first started following my dad when I was a kid – he was an actual archaeologist. He taught me everything I know now, and he’s the one who gave me this,” he held out the book that had previously been in his pocket to show Mikleo, who looked interested. “This place is in this book.”

 

Mikleo’s eyes widened, “Really?” he whispered, and Sorey flipped to the page about Alu Oaris. “Yep, look,” he showed the picture to Mikleo, who’s eyes lit up at the drawings on there. “Wow…” he whispered, “That’s… so…” he appeared to be struggling to find the word, so Sorey helped him out. “Cool? Awesome? Yeah I know.”

 

Mikleo’s lips twitched into a small smile. “What is that writing?”

 

“This? Oh, it’s English.”

 

Mikleo gave him a blank look, so Sorey decided to translate what was written for him there. Mikleo listened with rapt attention, nodding occasionally as though to show he understood. “I didn’t know that humans explored this place before…”

 

“Well… I don’t know how old you are, but this explorer came here centuries ago,” said Sorey, excited to be traveling the same footsteps this archaeologist had. “The descriptions and drawings don’t do this place justice though… it’s beautiful,” he said, and Mikleo beamed, as though proud that Sorey liked his home.

 

“I’ve never known anything outside of this place. It’s almost hard to believe that there are… other places,” Mikleo said softly. “Gramps might have heard of them,” he said, resting a hand over his mouth in thought. “That would be… cool,” he said, trying out the word that Sorey had used, although he seemed a bit unsure. Sorey gave him a reassuring smile and the merman appeared to be relieved. “Tell me more about the outside world, what’s it like?”

 

“Well, there’s a lot of different places, it’s not all the same. There are some places that are dry, devoid of water –“ Mikleo gasped, “and grass, and it’s covered in sand. Although there are some plants that manage to survive the heat. These places are called deserts.” He noticed that Mikleo looked confused, “What?”

 

“What’s… grass?”

 

What’s grass? Of course Mikleo would have no idea what grass was. How was he supposed to explain what grass was though? “It’s… um… well it’s green, and it’s short, and it covers the land. It only survives in places that aren’t extremely hot, for example I doubt you’d find grass in the desert.”

 

Mikleo nodded like he had any idea what Sorey was saying, even though Sorey knew he’d given a terrible explanation. An idea occurred to Sorey then, and he flipped through the pages of his book until he came across a drawing of a village that had grass surrounding it. “This is grass.”

 

“Oh!” Mikleo appeared pleased. “It’s… different. But nice.”

 

“There’s also water up above as well, like… lakes and ponds and streams. And we use water to drink and bathe,” he said. “Although it’s not anything like down here, where it’s… filled with water,” he said, eyeing the place around them.

 

Mikleo gave a soft chuckle, surprising Sorey. “Well, we survive in the water. I’m not even sure what these… things are here for,” he pointed at the ground where Sorey was sitting. “Maybe they’re for humans like me to walk on.”

 

“Can you not swim?” Mikleo asked, tilting his head.

 

“We can… but we usually only swim on certain occasions. Like, if we want to swim for fun, or swim to avoid drowning.”

 

“Drowning?” Mikleo frowned slightly. “What’s that?”

 

“Drowning is when… well, we can’t breath underwater,” he eyed the gills on Mikleo’s neck that he’d just now spotted. “So if we go under water for longer then we can hold our breath, we can die from it,” he explained, and Mikleo’s eyes widened. “Die… from water?” the idea seemed impossible for him to process. “But...” he shook his head. “Humans are… fragile.”

 

“You’d be surprised, we’ve been through a lot that should have killed us but instead made us stronger,” Sorey wasn’t offended in the least, in fact he was smiling. “How long do merpeople usually live?” he asked suddenly, “Humans live usually until they’re about eighty years, sometimes not as long, sometimes longer.”

 

“Years?” Mikleo looked confused. “We don’t… count years. But when we get old we die.”

 

“So, you don’t know how old you are then?” Sorey asked, surprised. He had no idea how merpeople looked. Mikleo could be a hundred and still only look around Sorey’s age, and Mikleo was no help since he didn’t know what years were. Mikleo shook his head, and Sorey thought about it. “Let me explain to you what a year is. A year is three hundred and sixty five days. Do you guys count days?”

 

Mikleo shook his head, but quickly added, “We count when the moon rises and falls. The crystals glow more amber when the moon isn’t out, which is mostly when we sleep.”

 

“So you’re nocturnal,” Sorey mused, mostly to himself. “Well, that is a day. When the crystals glow amber. So, three hundred and sixty five of those days equal a year. I’m seventeen years old, which means I was born seventeen years ago.”

 

Mikleo was silent for a moment, processing this information before coming to his conclusion. Sorey noticed that his hand was over his mouth again and wondered if Mikleo did this every time he was thinking hard about something. “I’m not… completely sure but… I think I would be about that age in… years.”

 

So Sorey had been right guessing Mikleo’s age. “That’s pretty cool. Speaking of which, I was wondering, how are you not cold?”

 

Mikleo looked at him strangely. “Are you cold?”

 

Sorey tilted his head in thought. “… Not with my clothes on no.”

 

“So if you took your clothes off you would be cold?”

 

Sorey nodded, and Mikleo hummed softly. “Strange. Perhaps my skin is like your clothes? It protects me from being cold – for the most part.”

 

“For the most part?”

 

“There’s times when the water gets frozen in certain places, and it’s cold then, but that only happens occasionally.”

 

“Probably during the winter,” said Sorey thoughtfully, and Mikleo frowned. “The what?”

 

“Winter – it’s – ah, well in the outside world we have these things called seasons. Summer, Winter, Autumn and Spring. Winter is when everything is cold, the water freezes and it snows,” Mikleo looked like he was about to ask what snow was, but Sorey was already ahead of him, grabbing the book and turning to a page that had a ruin covered with snow. “See?”

 

Mikleo studied the snow before nodding. “Hmm, it does only happen occasionally. It would make sense if it was during one of your… seasons…” he said, fingers touching his lips in thought.

 

They spoke more about seasons for a while, Sorey occasionally having to show it through pictures in his book since he was terrible at describing things and Mikleo nodding as he took it all in.

 

“I never knew that there was more to the world then this,” said Mikleo, smiling softly. Sorey beamed at him. “Oh there’s a lot more! Hey, I have an idea,” he said suddenly. “I… well, I’m not the best drawer but… I can draw you stuff from my village and come back and show it to you,” he said excitedly. Mikleo perked up, “You’ll really come back?” he said, almost hesitantly.

 

Sorey nodded, a wide grin on his face. “Of course! I had a lot of fun talking to you, and maybe I’d be able to meet your friends and family too.”

 

Mikleo chuckled softly, “Yeah maybe.”

 

“I’ve got to get going now,” said Sorey, both sounding and feeling disappointed. “But I’ll definitely come by tomorrow too! And the day after that, every day if you want me!” he said, a grin finding its way onto his features. Mikleo looked amused, “Well that’s one way to keep track of the days at least.”

 

Sorey laughed. “So it’s settled then. I’ll come every day to visit.”

 

“Sounds like a plan,” said Mikleo, his amethyst eyes sparkling with excitement that he rarely felt. “And you have to tell me more about the ruins you explore! I wish I could go with you…” he said, glancing at his tail and wishing for the first time he wasn’t a merman so that he could stay with Sorey.

 

“Well, I’ll definitely come by and tell you _everything_ if I ever do come across any ruins!” He said cheerfully, getting up. “So… I’ll see you tomorrow Mikleo.”

 

Mikleo smiled, meeting his eyes. “Tomorrow. Don’t be late.”

 

 


End file.
